Net neutrality might seem a little hypothetical

At its essence, the debate is about whether all TCP/IP traffic should be treated equally or whether Internet service providers should be allowed to prioritise traffic from specific content providers.

You also get the impression that it is assumed that a) everyone has access to the Internet; and, b) they can afford it. These might be reasonable broad generalisations for the US market and perhaps the industrialised world in general but it breaks down in a region like sub-Saharan Africa.

For millions of people, the Access layer of the Internet is simply absent. There is no infrastructure. Or, where there is infrastructure, access is comparatively expensive. If you are part of the roughly 50% of the world’s population that doesn’t have access to the Internet, then the debate about prioritisation of Internet traffic might appear a little hypothetical to you.